The `wow' factor

Architects focus more of their best efforts on a home's interior

Thirty years ago, when many of today's home buyers were still in diapers, the term "interior architect" was an oxymoron.

The architect's job was to design a house that had curb appeal, while being safe and structurally sound.

Except at the highest price points, the interior was a functional collection of boxes called rooms.

Then the 1980s gave us the plant ledge in the two-story foyer and the tray ceiling in the master bedroom. Then oversized moldings came back from the dead.

By the late '90s, new homes were filled with arches, niches, columns and built-ins galore.

Unlike interior design, which focuses on non-structural elements such as window treatments and furnishings, interior architecture encompasses elements integral to the home.

Blame it on the West Coast, where this is one of many design trends that formed before flowing eastward.

Blame it on the Baby Boomers, who tend to put their stamp on every product, including homes, and want more than the plain Jane, 1950s ranches their parents built.

Or, blame it on a basic marketing axiom: Builders, like all business people , must one-up their competitors to survive. Whatever.

"An interior that's just utilitarian isn't good enough anymore," reports Jerry Weiner, vice president of architecture for Warrenville-based Neumann Homes. "Now, people want the `wow factor.' About the only room that hasn't been affected is the children's bedroom."

People who buy a new home are very selective, and are discriminating about architectural niceties, said Jean Neumann, director of marketing for Neumann Homes.

"People want to spend a lot of time in their nests, and they derive a lot of enjoyment from such architectural features as lofts and cathedral ceilings," she said.

The higher the home price, of course, the more pizazz.

Typical of the $500,000-plus homes are Merit Homes' custom homes in Long Grove, at Merit Estates. They are filled with oversized moldings, art niches and alcoves for electronic equipment.

A step down the price ladder, in the $375,000 to $550,000 range, is South Pointe in Naperville, where Oak Hill Builders and Developers' model includes tiered ceilings in every room, art niches in the foyer and hallways, arched doorways throughout and a foyer wall that's "picture-framed" on four sides with trim.

These elements are all standard, says president Nick Stanitz.

Like many building trends, interior architectural details have made their way down to lower price points.

Columns separate living and dining rooms in Smykal Associates' Park Place homes in Oswego, where base prices start at $219,900. Ceiling and kitchen cabinets heights are staggered.

"Even at this price level, people expect a house to be dressed up," says Smykal's vice president of design, Frank Johnson. "They expect this on the inside as well as the outside."

Nor is this trend limited to single-family homes. It extends into the townhouse and condo markets, too. JFJ Development Co.'s condos at The Residences at 707 W. Barry in Chicago, for example, are loaded with architectural elements including curved, dropped soffits and dropped tray ceilings that hide indirect lighting.

Built-in niches, molding aplenty and a dramatic stairway were the selling points that convinced Anurag and Shalini Sharma to buy their townhouse at Kensington Homes' Woodland Lakes in Aurora, says Anurag Sharma.

"We didn't need much space, but we wanted it dressed up," he says.

The availability of ready-made elements such as pillars enables builders to add them to homes in affordable price ranges, says Roger Mankedick, executive vice president of Palatine-based Concord Homes.

"Used to be, you only saw these in million-dollar homes because you had to hire woodworkers to make them," says Mankedick. "Now, we can buy them made in composite materials and add them."

Columns, niches and arches are standard in Concord's Northbridge development in Huntley, where base prices start at $277,000.

To meet this demand, some builders have architects on staff. Smykal's Johnson, for example, is a licensed architect. Others look outside to a new breed of architects who specialize in interiors.

JFJ runs its plans by a designer, who suggests where to add architectural highlights.

Sometimes it is just a matter of jazzing up previous designs, says Steve Sandelin, vice president of product design for Lombard-based Town & Country Homes.

For example, he says, in some models Town & Country has replaced wooden balusters with wrought iron, made fireplace openings higher and wider, and made thicker walls between master bedrooms and bathrooms for more dramatic entries.